Satin Princess(83)

“He’s the one being stubborn.”

“Anton,” I say patiently, “he’s hurting. He told me something deeply personal and I broke his heart.”

“He should have expected that.”

“Sometimes, you hope,” I whisper. “Even when hoping is na?ve.”

It’s not lost on me how much that advice applies to my own situation.

He places his hand at the back of my neck and I take a deep breath. “What can I do?” he asks in that delicious rumble of his.

I give him a soft smile. “You’re really willing to help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because… you’re not exactly a fan of Chris.”

“He cares about you,” Anton says grudgingly. “I can’t fault him for that.”

My heart flutters. No one has ever made me feel quite so cherished. Anton says he’s a violent man in a violent world, and if you look at him from some angles, maybe he is.

But when you see him the way I do, all you see is love.

“I do need something from you,” I say cautiously. I already know he’s not going to like this plan, but I have to try. “Let me go and speak to him. I won’t take long and—”

“No.”

“Wait, you didn’t even—”

“Jessa, you realize that you nearly died yesterday, right?” he demands. “That bitch came within seconds of actually killing you and the baby. She almost won.”

I notice he doesn’t include himself in the hit list. I’m not sure if that’s because he’s so confident in his own invincibility or because he just doesn’t care about whether he lives or dies.

“I know, and I’m not asking to go by myself. You assigned me a security team, didn’t you?”

“I will not trust any of them with your life unnecessarily. They’re all good men, they’re all capable. But she just came too close yesterday.”

“I can’t hide from her forever.”

“Not forever. Just until I strangle the life out of her.” He sighs and knuckles at his tired eyes. “Why do you need to do this now?”

“Because he’s my best friend. If Lev or Yulian refused to talk to you, wouldn’t you go to them and try and explain things?"

“Fuck no. They’d come to me.”

I roll my eyes. “Please, Anton?”

“If you need to talk to him so badly, text him.”

“I did. He’s not responding to any of them. And there are some things that I can’t convey in a text message. In any case, he deserves more than that. He deserves a face to face conversation.”

“It doesn’t seem like he wants one.”

“I would ask him to come here, but I know he won’t,” I implore. I put my hand on his arm. “I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t do this.”

He sighs and groans at the same time. “Fuck.”

“Is that a yes?”

His jaw clenches. “I’m not happy about this.”

“Noted,” I say. “I won’t be long.”

“You say that now.”

“There’s no way Marina is going to know where I am.”

“She knew where we were yesterday.”

I shrug. “Coincidence.”

At least, I hope it was a coincidence.

He rolls his eyes. “You really are determined to go, aren't you?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. Then Lev is going with you.”

“Lev?” I ask. “I thought he was joining you for some important meeting?”

“He was. But I’m not sending you out there without a man that I trust implicitly. That’s either Yulian or Lev. And I’d rather have Yulian in the meeting with me today.”

“Okay. I’ll go with Lev then.”

He growls irritably, but I give him a huge smile and then throw my arms around him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“I don’t consider that a proper thank you,” he says.

“No?” I ask flirtatiously. “What do you consider a proper thank you?”

His hand snakes up my leg and slips under my dress. The stern man from a moment ago is gone. His steely voice has gone sultry. “Use your imagination."

I lean in and press my lips to his. His arm wraps around my waist and he pulls me onto his lap in one smooth move.

I keep my hands on his neck and straddle him, grinding my pussy against his erection. His hands land on my ass and he squeezes hard, pulling me against his cock, letting the pressure between us build one degree at a time.

He sucks at my nipple through the fabric of my dress and I moan, desperate to move as close to him as possible.

“Ahem.”

Gasping, I jump right off Anton and almost land flat on my ass on the carpet.

Lev is standing by the door, looking between us with an amused expression on his face.

In the heat of the moment, I forgot we were downstairs in the sitting room, in full view of anyone walking past.

Anton, of course, looks completely unruffled. He’s sitting in the same position, his legs thrown wide perfectly at ease despite the ridiculous bulge in his crotch. He’s so damn big that his erection would be hard to hide even if he tried.